Behind Red Optics
by Alexis Raphael
Summary: A young bot called Darkstar suddenly finds himself alone in the world with the police after him for a murder he didn't commit. As he tries to avoid them and stay alive, he finds out some things about his past and does his best to make a future for himself in a world on the brink of civil war. Watching it all is a mysterious being who claims to have 'plans' for him.
1. The Saga Begins

Chapter 1: "The Saga Begins"

I typed the word 'Hunter' into the library computer and waited for it to pull up the results.

'The Cybertronian Encyclopedia: Entry: Hunter; Category: Warriors; Subcategory: Specialists

Cybertronian Hunter: A group of Transformers similar in frame to Seekers, but with several distinct differences such as shorter intakes and a slight overall stockiness. In addition, the left wing may transform into a sword and most Hunters had throwing knives in wrist compartments.

Hunters began as a political party that campaigned for small government and peace, but due to rising political aggression, they eventually rebelled and overthrew the government. This happened many more times and Hunters evolved a culture of their own as well as unique and effective fighting techniques. Over time, laws on Hunters got more restrictive due to their reputation of starting rebellions. Currently, Hunters are presumed extinct.

I closed the window and browsed through the files on the shelf. Finally, I found the one I was looking for and sat down to read. Supposedly, this was a true story of someone famous—or perhaps infamous-but there was little known about the author, so the accuracy was questionable. I began reading.

* * *

Darkstar gave one final thrust with his sword into the spark of his attacker and slowly rolled to his feet. Turning on his infrared vision, he scanned the surrounding area for any more of the punks. There were none, so he limped off in the direction he'd last seen Nacelle. The alley floor was strewn with the corpses of yet more of the thugs and it was tricky work to avoid stepping in the puddles of various liquids. He saw no sign of his friend anywhere so he tried comming him. The soft fizzle of static was all he heard. He glanced around hurriedly. If Nacelle didn't show himself soon, the Law Enforcers would catch them and then they'd be in hot water for sure! He took another limp around the darkened alley, not daring to call out, and stopped dead in his tracks as he caught sight of the thing he'd been most dreading to see.

Kneeling by the body of his fallen master, he fought back the tears that tried forcing their way out. He noted the skill with which his friend had been offlined. It was no clumsy laser-shot or knife-cut that had sliced the main fuel line so neatly in two—but who could have done that? They had been fighting a gang of thugs, not a skillful warrior! There was definitely something strange going on here. He had no more time to think on it as the whine of sirens met his audios and he glimpsed bright lights between the buildings. Bidding Nacelle a silent farewell, he disappeared into the night.

**-A Year Earlier-**

"Focus! You're not focusing, Darkstar! Concentrate on _not _killing your opponent; put him out of commission. Right now you're beheading and desparking him; I told you to sever this cable and that wire. Try again." A dark blue Hunter-style jet with maroon stripes on his wings crossed his arms and watched critically as his pupil attacked the holographic practice dummy ferociously.

"No! Now you're dismembering him! I told you: Wire. Cable. Got it?"

The young black and silver Hunter lowered his sword and frowned.

"But why do I want to put the dude 'out of commission?' Isn't it just easier to kill him?"

"Darkie, Darkie, Darkie," the older jet shook his head, "That's not what a Hunter does. Did I seriously not teach you this when you were a sparkling? No, I know I did. Anyhow, this dude is a minor threat and you're not offlining him. Understand?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Darkstar shrugged.

Darkstar practiced for a while longer before the older Hunter said, "Take an hour break and then study history. After, of course, you help me put all this stuff away."

Two hours later, Darkstar had read all the Cybertronian history he could stomach and made it clear by chucking the datapad across the room. Seriously, he thought, what was so fascinating about what senator came after what other senator and what stupid laws each one passed? They were all jerks in Iacon.

Wandering out of his room, he saw Nacelle on the couch reading. The younger Hunter plopped down next to him and looked over his shoulder at the datapad.

"What do you want?" Nacelle said, shutting the datapad off.

"First, to annoy you, second, tell me about my parents."

"Oh, really? How about if you tell me if you've finished the history section I told you to read?"

"Yeah, yeah, I did all that. It was even more boring than usual. So what about my mother-creator?"

Nacelle sighed inwardly. Here they went again. He would have loved to tell the kid the entire truth, but he had his orders and he wasn't going to disobey.

"Moonbeam," he said, "As if I haven't told you before. Pale yellow with sparkling-blue highlights. Far as I can remember, pretty much everyone—Hunters at any rate—liked her 'cause she was about the gentlest, sweetest femme you could find."

"Was she a fighter?"

"Have you ever heard of a Hunter who wasn't? Of course she could fight, but thing is she didn't like to. Preferred patching the rest of us up. That answer it?"

"Not by a long shot. But tell me about my father-creator. Who was he?"

"Isn't it time for dinner?"

"C'mon, you _never_ tell me about him! What was his name, at least?"

"It started with an 'O'. Now come and help me get the chow."

Nacelle always felt bad whenever he brushed the kid off, but he had his orders; to disobey meant termination.

The next day was spent mostly in the training room as opposed to their more usual sessions outside.

Nacelle had a new exercise for his student.

"Now here's how this works," he said, "I'm tossing these cylinders and you have to cut them through the exact middle—hence why you're not using the practice sword—but if you let any hit the ground, it counts as a miss. You need to work on your accuracy. And I'm not tolerating any misses, you understand. Also, the green ones are off-limits. Do not hit the green ones. Never. Green is off-limits."

"I get the point already. Besides, those aren't cylinders; they look more like spheres."

"Don't forget that I'm your geometry teacher, too. They are what I say they are. Ready?"

Darkstar nodded, gripping his sword tighter.

Slash! A neatly halved ball fell to the ground. Swoosh! Another. Then four more before two green halves landed and Nacelle said, "Stop!"

Darkstar lowered his blade.

"You hit a green."

"I did not! It's hardly my fault that it decided to commit suicide by impaling itself on my weapon."

Nacelle shook his head. "Start over. Try to get through at least five minutes of this."

"'Kay. Ready when you are."

They made it up to over three minutes before Darkstar hit another green. Almost, at any rate. He detoured his blade barely in time and with such force that he lost his balance and dove into the floor. Nacelle watched the little scene and groaned inwardly.

"What was that?" he said.

"Just testing gravity," the downed Hunter replied, pushing himself to his feet.

"And?"

"It still works."

Nacelle wanted to cry.

"Start over."

Twenty minutes and five destroyed green balls later, the older Hunter said, "Break time. Come with me." And he led the way to the garden.

They called it the garden, though really, 'row of potted and atmosphere-controlled organic plant-life' would have been more descriptive.

"You know, there's a reason I'm making you do this. When you're a Hunter—anyone with power, really—it's up to you not to misuse that power. The Senate is a shining example of what _not_ to do. See, they pretty much control the world and what someone with actual brains and moral standards would do is try their best to help the people in real ways. Now they're 'helping' the miners, but all they're really doing is sucking up the money and getting more control. In the past, there've been a few—a _very_ few—Hunters who have used their skills for thievery, murder, etc. In essence, ploys to get power and dough. The other Hunters have always found out about it and taken care of the offender, but that doesn't change that there are _always_ dudes out there who're just in it for the power. That's one of the reasons for Hunters to be around; a long time ago, we were a lot more of a political party, but then things got really nasty and it turned into one of the earlier civil wars. We won, but after that, we had to get steadily more warlike and less of the civilians we used to be. But recently—that is, a long time ago recently—the Senate was put in power and things have steadily gotten worse. We've gotten sort of a reputation of overthrowing governments and the Senate knows it and that's why they keep us separate. They're afraid that we'll get ticked at them and rise up again."

"But how come it hasn't happened already? I mean, the laws are pretty rough now. How come we don't just get together and do what the other guys did back then?"

"Last time we did a headcount, there were about a hundred and three Hunters left versus millions of guys in the government's employ. Not to mention that communication is severely limited between us and lots of the hundred and three are either sparklings or ancient. It would be pretty much suicide. So far, we've been trying a more political approach."

"Who cares about politics? Nobody understands it anyway. We should just ditch politics altogether and kick the Senate's tail to the dark side of one of the moons."

"Did you really not hear what I _just_ said and what I've been saying for the past five minutes?"

"Well, at first you lost me at 'there's a reason,' then I picked up again at 'get ticked,' but I lost it again at 'headcount' and I kind of zoned out for the rest."

Nacelle slapped a hand to his face.

"Why? Why me? Why him?" he moaned.

"I'm sure it was a beautiful speech," Darkstar said.

"I think we need to work on your attention span."

"Huh? What?"

"Let's get back to training."

**-A Year Later: 'Supply day'-**

Nacelle awoke form recharge and groaned as he rolled off the berth. Today was both one of his favorite days of the year, as well as one of his least favorite ones. It was the one day of the year when Hunters, usually confined to their own homes and grounds, were allowed to go into a city for the sole purpose of stocking up on supplies. Though it was bending the rules a lot, most of them took the opportunity to get together. Almost everyone else took their sparklings but Nacelle had never allowed Darkstar to go; he didn't think it was particularly safe for a sparkling as curious, mischievous, and perky as Darkstar to be let loose in a city full of cops just _waiting_ for a Hunter to slip up. Then again, perhaps he was just being a bit overprotective and paranoid. This stellar cycle, though, he figured that Darkstar was quite old enough to come, and he thought that the younger Hunter might actually _like _meeting some kids his own age. With that decided, Nacelle began thinking up creative ways to wake his student.

A few minutes later, one tired and startled Darkstar fairly staggered into the kitchen and snatched a cube of energon.

"Recharge well?" Nacelle snickered.

Darkstar glared. "It was cut a bit short."

"Well, cheer up. Tarn awaits."

"Huh?"

"Don't tell me you don't know where Tarn is. I thought I taught you your geography when you were knee high to a hexagonal nut. We're going there to get supplies today."

"We?"

"As in us. Yes. You know, me and you. Nacelle and Darkstar. The both of us."

"To Tarn?"

"Isn't that what I just said?"

"But—"

"Shut up and get ready. After you finish your—" he was interrupted by a loud whoop from Darkstar, who jumped up—nearly upsetting the table—and raced off in a flurry of excitement.

"—Breakfast. Well, you've got to appreciate the enthusiasm. I guess." Nacelle winced as he heard a series of crashes from other parts of the house.

It was some hours later when the pair finally arrived in Tarn, having come on foot in compliance with the "no transforming or flying outside your home area" law. As they traversed the streets, Darkstar took all the unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells in eagerly. He'd never been outside of their little "Hunter reservation" before and was determined to make the most of what was obviously a special outing.

Once the shopping was out of the way, Nacelle declared the rest of the day free and immediately commed some of his Hunter friends. An abandoned warehouse was the location for the "Hunter reunion" that year and Darkstar was surprised at how few Hunters there were. He counted about twenty or thirty and that was including the few sparklings there were.

Nacelle followed the instinct of most adults when faced with such a situation and immediately commenced talking to the older Hunters, leaving Darkstar to fend for himself amongst the ten or so younger Hunters. He withdrew to a corner and tried to disappear, hoping nobody would notice him.

"Hey, who're you? I don't remember seein' you before." A blue Hunter and a white one, both of whom looked to be about Darkstar's age, approached Darkstar and looked at him critically.

"Darkstar. Stop looking at me like I'm a bug!"

"Sheesh! Touchy, aren't we? I'm Airstream and this's Cloudbank. How come we never saw you before?" said the blue one.

"Because we have apparently never been within seeing range of each other."

"No duh. You think you're a big shot?"

"What?"

"You're not that smart, are you?"

"This isn't the way to make friends, y'know."

"So? Got a problem?"

"Yeah, you're an annoying squeaker."

"Loser. That's the best you got?"

"The rest isn't fit for young audios."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. You look pretty wimpy for a Hunter. You sure you're in the right warehouse?"

"You look like you come from the prissy parts of Iacon. I could beat you up with my little finger."

"Wanna bet? I could beat the grease out of you with half my brain tied behind my back!"

"How? Your brain module probably fell out your audio a long time ago. I could kick your tailfins to the other side of the galaxy with my hands _and_ feet tied!"

By this time, the other young Hunters had gathered around Airstream and Darkstar.

"You talk real big, Airstream. I see where you got your name; that's all you got, a stream of hot air but no spinal module to back it up."

"I oughta bash your smart mouth in!"

"Well come on; you keep _sayin'_ you're gonna bust me, but how come you haven't?"

"I should smash you into the floor for bein' such a glitch!"

"Are you mentally impaired, dude? 'Cause you're just flappin' your gums right now about how great your fighting skills are and how you're gonna hurt me, but I ain't seen nothin' that backs it up."

"You little—"

"Mecha-cat got your tongue? C'mon, are you as much of a wuss as you look?"

"Yaaarrrrggggghhhhh!" Airstream sprang on Darkstar with the swiftness of a panther and they crashed to the floor in a flurry of fists, arms, legs, and wings. The other youngsters began cheering them on (most cheering for Airstream, as nobody knew who Darkstar was). The grown-ups took little notice of it, a couple glancing over and shrugging unconcernedly. As long as it wasn't anything serious, they didn't care much.

Presently, Darkstar managed to shove Airstream off him, but the other didn't stay away and the dark Hunter was toppled in his attempts to rise, much to the amusement of the crowd.

"You aren't a Hunter; you'd put up more of a fight if you were! At least try to land one good punch!" Airstream panted.

"Shut it!"

Airstream finally had Darkstar pinned to the ground and prepared to lay it in until the darker bot gave up, when he suddenly found that there was no Darkstar beneath him anymore. Startled, he glanced around only to see his quarry standing over him smirking.

"You wanted me to land a punch, right? Well, here it is!"

Darkstar felt his hand connect with his opponent's face and Airstream was sent reeling into the crowd. The blue bot dove at Darkstar, who simply back-flipped away. He then shot back and the skirmish ended in a magnificent toss. That is, Darkstar tried to throw Airstream, but he caught hold of Darkstar and they tumbled clumsily into the crowd of their elders, who looked mildly annoyed at the interruption.

"Er—sorry!" Airstream and Darkstar managed to get out before dashing off and declaring it a tie.

"Nice kid you have there, Nacelle." A grey mech said, nodding. "Been training him, I see."

"Of course."

"I didn't know you were bonded."

"I'm not; he's a friend's kid. Moonbeam, you remember her."

"Naturally! How could anyone forget that lovely lady? Kid sure doesn't act like her, though. Acts more like you were at that age."

"Hey! I wasn't _that_ bad!"

"Worse." Another mech chipped in.

"I remember a particular time involving the power lines of Iacon, you, and a practice sword." Said another one.

"_Don't_ bring that up again. It was a simple mistake. Anyone could have done it."

"Any sword-happy kid named Nacelle."

So the conversation rolled on in the usual fashion.

Darkstar found himself making friends with Airstream and Cloudbank-the only two bots near his own age—and they played several games with the younger ones (who took special delight in explaining the rules to Darkstar and beating him). After a good while, Nacelle called Darkstar over and they took their leave.

By now, it was quite dark and they traversed the streets with caution.

"So how did you like that?" Nacelle asked.

"It was awesome. How come you never took me before?"

"I had my reasons. I saw you hit it off well with Airstream and Cloudbank."

"Airstream started the fight. It wasn't my fault."

"So I heard. Sort of."

"Are you gonna let me come next year?"

"If you're good and do your studies well. And—hold on."

"What?"

"Did you hear—look out!"

Suddenly, Darkstar found himself surrounded by a gang of at least twenty thugs, all with long knives and hard scowls. Unconsciously, he moved closer to his master.

"Hunters." One of them hissed quietly.

"Uh, Nacelle?" Darkstar said uncertainly, looking at his master. Nacelle put a hand to his wing.

"Get out of here. Don't wait for me, just go." He transformed the wing into his sword and gripped it expertly.

"I—I'm not leaving you." The young Hunter reached a trembling hand to his wing and grabbed his own sword.

"Whatever you do, don't do anything stupid, Darkie!"

The thugs suddenly pounced then and in the fight that followed, there was little noise but clangs, grunts, and panting; nobody said a word or gave a cry. Darkstar tried to remember everything Nacelle had taught him, but his mind seemed to be frozen on one thought: this was _real_.

* * *

Notes: So, I have finally posted this first of-hopefully-many chapters. It took _forever_ to get up and I'll probably put it through at least a couple of minor (or major) revisions before all's through. I got the name 'Hunters' from issue 17 of the original comic series where Blaster calls a couple of guys 'Hunter-seekers.' I thought that Seekers was getting a bit overused, so I made up my own group. Besides, I have _other_ uses for the Seekers *cue evil laughter.* And by the way, this's one of a (_very_) few attempts of mine at writing something outside of the humor section, so I'd appreciate it if some of you could critique my style...and how I'm doing with making this at least sort of dramatic. All that said, the title comes from the song by the Who, 'Behind Blue Eyes.'


	2. Livin' on a Prayer

Chapter 2: Livin' on a Prayer

"Hunters." Prowl spat the word as if it was unfit to come from any respectable person's lips.

"Sir?" Streetwise looked at the senior Law Enforcer quizzically.

"Hunters did this. You can tell by the skill of the cuts. Only a Hunter would target these particular areas. I'd say it was a younger one; there are several clumsy strokes in here. Hold on." Prowl bent down and examined the ground around the corpses.

"I think there were two. Probably a mech and his sparkling. But where did they go…."

"Nowhere," said Streetwise from farther ahead.

"Huh?"

"There's a dead Hunter over here. Looks like his name was…Nacelle. Sir."

"Nacelle? I remember him. He adopted a Hunter kid."

"A lot of Hunters adopt orphaned Hunter sparklings. It's not uncommon."

"This one was different. Nacelle was friends with the femme. You know, the yellow Hunter. The kid was hers and she gave custody of him to this guy when she was arrested."

"Why didn't the father keep him?"

"You read the report, didn't you? He was—what's this? It looks like there was someone other than a thug here. This Hunter wasn't killed by a street punk."

"Possibly another Hunter with a grudge against this one?"

"No, they don't do that. Too closely-knit—hence why we like to keep them as separate as we can. I wonder where the mystery assassin went."

"And who he was."

"Yeah."

"Where'd the kid go? What was his name?"

"Darkstar. He must be here somewhere. Surely the one who terminated Nacelle would have known he was in the vicinity and have disposed of him also."

Prowl stood up and surveyed the alley through narrowed optics. Spotting something, he took a look and said, "Well, well, well. I see I was wrong. The kid did escape. Seems like he was badly damaged. I suppose we'll have a chase on our hands now."

"Should we call out some backup?"

"No, this one won't be a problem. We'll just swing by, pick him up, and head back. I suppose it won't really matter if he doesn't make it all the way back to headquarters. Just saves the high-ups the trouble of deciding how to execute him. Let's get moving."

Darkstar ran as fast as he could, always sure the Law Enforcers were just around the corner. He took all the detours he could think of, but he didn't know the area and couldn't tell if a street would open out onto another road or dead-end. It seemed like forever before he got out of the dense parts of the city and into more open areas.

Just as he felt he could go no further, he noticed someone slip out of their house and come towards him. Too tired and numb to fight back, he allowed the guy to lead him inside. He wouldn't have lasted long on his own anyhow, he thought. Better to just get it over with now than later.

The surprise came when the stranger handed him an energon cube and told him to drink. In a daze, he obeyed and collapsed into the chair that the mech brought forward. He sat still and thought of nothing as the stranger took out a toolkit and commenced work on the worst of his wounds.

"What's he look like? Can I see?" A little blue femme tried to peek around her older sister but there was only room for one to see out from their position on the staircase.

"He's a Hunter. Black with silver trim and he's pretty beat up." The red femme replied.

"No duh. Dad doesn't bring healthy people here. What's he doing? Anything interesting?"

"Nope, nothing. He looks really tired. I think he's just a bit older than me."

"Ooh! He probably is running from Law Enforcers! I wonder what he did!"

"I hope the Law Enforcers don't come around here while Dad's patching him up."

"Let's go talk to him after Dad's gone!"

"You know the rules about talking to the people he brings in off the streets! Besides, he's a Hunter. What's the point in talking to one of _them_?"

"I've never seen a Hunter up close before! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"But how do you know he wouldn't try to hurt you? You know how untrustworthy Hunters are. It's not safe."

"Is Dad gone?"

"Yes, but you're staying—" the red femme was cut off as her sister pushed past her and bounced down the stairs.

"—here."

Without another word, she followed the blue femme into the room where Darkstar sat trying to figure out what had just happened.

The blue femme stood in front of him and said, "Hey, who're you?"

The Hunter looked up but didn't reply.

Advancing cautiously, the young bot poked him lightly in the leg—which was as high as she could reach—and said, "Halloo, can you talk?"

"Yeah." Said Darkstar.

"Cool! What's your name? Were you in a fight? Did you win? Are the Law Enforcers after you? What—"

"Don't mind her," said the red femme, looking embarrassed, "She's never seen a Hunter before…"

Darkstar smirked slightly. What was he? A zoo exhibit?

He frowned again.

"Was that your dad who brought me here? It wasn't a good idea. The Law Enforcers will be here soon; I'm sure of it. I should go."

"My dad brought you here so I don't think he's worried about the Law Enforcers."

"But I am. If they find me here, they're going to arrest all of us, and the results ain't gonna be nice."

"Dad won't let that happen. He'll never let them find you while you're here."

"I'm not taking the chance. Who are you anyway? Why help a Hunter?"

"Our dad is a doctor. I'm Firestar and she's Dreamstar, and it's Dad's job to help people. Who're you?"

"Darkstar. Doesn't your dad think it's not good for you two to speak to a Hunter? Shouldn't I be some kind of malicious killer, or something?"

"Um, Dad doesn't exactly…know…"

Dreamstar suddenly grinned and said, "Hey, did you notice we're all 'stars? Darkstar, Dreamstar, 'n' Firestar!"

Darkstar smiled and laughed softly. The little femme certainly seemed oblivious of the more 'grown up' sort of talk.

"We'd better go," Firestar said, pushing her sister towards the door.

"Where do we have to be in such a hurry? I finished all my homework an hour ago!"

"_Let's just go!_" Firestar whispered, guiding Dreamstar out the door.

Ten seconds after the two left, Darkstar noticed a bright light outside and, when he peeked out, he saw it was Law Enforcers!

Quick and silent as a ninja, he rushed to the stairwell, hoping there would be a skylight he could escape from. There was none, so he opened a window just enough to get out by and activated his thrusters.

His flight was short lived, however, as he almost immediately crashed into a Law Enforcer. This one and his buddy naturally tried arresting him, but he fought against the cuffs and they brought out their guns.

Suddenly, an explosion from within the house caught their attention. Darkstar snatched at the opportunity and transformed, shooting into the sky before the Law Enforcers could catch him. Looking back at the burning house, he suddenly remembered that the femmes were still inside. He whirled around and sped back, hoping he wasn't too late as he landed inside the burning building and tried to locate them. Luck was with him as he saw them just beyond a collapsing wall.

"Hold on I'm—never mind." He called out to them, realizing how corny it sounded; every comic book in the galaxy had used that line before.

Glad that his armor was fire-resistant as the flames licked about him, he made his way to the two and picked Dreamstar up, signaling Firestar to grab on to his back. She did so rather discreetly and he flew through the hole in the ceiling without a moment's hesitation.

Outside, one of the Law Enforcers shouted, "There he is, sir! Should I shoot him?"

The other one said, "No, he has civilians."

Darkstar made a wry face at that; they probably figured he was using them as Transformer shields.

A short way off, he set them down and turned to go.

"Thank you," Firestar said, looking at the Hunter.

"Do me a favor, would you?" he said, looking back.

"Anything."

"Forget I exist." He transformed and shot off leaving the two young femmes staring after him.

Grimly, Darkstar put on more speed, focused solely on escaping. But one thought lingered in the back of his mind: What had exploded so perfectly in the nick of time?

Notes: The plot thickens, or so they say. More familiar 'bots are on their way next chapter, too.

I have some "deleted scenes" that didn't have enough bearing on the plot or space didn't allow to include in the story, but some of them are kind of interesting or funny or I just like them, so I'll be posting them eventually I think.

Until next chapter….


	3. Tomorrow's Gonna be a Brighter Day--if

Tomorrow's Gonna be a Brighter Day-if it Ever Comes

Skyfire hated being the teacher's anti-pet. It wasn't as if he'd ever done anything wrong—much. He supposed perhaps it was because he was the only flier in the Academy, but then again, it might have been because he'd been a touch smart-alecky in his homework. Seriously, though, it had been a really stupid set of questions with no good answer. But here he was, doing penance in the library. Stacking datapads was _so_ degrading for a virtual genius like himself! There was really nothing for it, though. Just put the f's here and the g's there, neaten the piles, and grab some more. It seemed like everyone had heard of what had happened and made the library extra messy. He sorted more datapads and found a note in between two. It read,

'Meet me at the fountain tonight, P. Look sharp and don't be late, dear.

Xoxoxo Love forever, M. 3 xoxoxo'

Skyfire grinned. It might be kind of fun to hold on to this for a while—but then he thought, 'how would I feel if someone did that to me?' Not that he had a girlfriend, but the point still stood so he put it back.

He was just starting again on the monotonous task at hand when a dark-colored bot burst into the room, slamming and locking the door after him. He leaned against it, panting heavily. The guy wasn't familiar and Skyfire noted that he was about his own age.

He didn't seem to know he wasn't alone, so Skyfire decided to enlighten him.

"Hello, I don't remember anyone but the janitors and Perceptor to be here so late." _And those of us atoning for our 'sins', but I'm not going to mention that._

The stranger nearly jumped out of his scratched-up black paint and a pair of bright red optics met Skyfire's blue ones.

_Hunter,_ Skyfire thought.

* * *

Darkstar let himself in through a first-floor window of the Academy; the closest building he could find that wasn't decked out like a mini fortress, and dashed down the dimly-lit hall.

_I just need somewhere I can rest an hour or so and repair my damage,_ he thought, glancing from side to side at the lights on the doors which were all red, indicating they were locked. If only he could find an _un_locked one!

It wouldn't be long before he would be caught by the Law Enforcers, and in his condition, he couldn't put up much of a fight. He sped silently down the twisting, turning hallway and was just starting to despair of ever finding an open room when he found one with the door slightly ajar. Without a moment's hesitation, he slipped inside, but instead of a darkened classroom, he found a well-lit laboratory, complete with bottles of strange substances, test-tubes, contraptions, and a host of other sciency things. To top it all off, there was a scientist at the other end of the room with his back turned, evidently so intent on his work that he didn't notice the Hunter. Quietly, the latter left the room and began running down that eternal hallway again.

Suddenly, the sound of voices and footsteps came to his audios. It was the Law Enforcers, right behind him! On the verge of panic, he put on more speed and rounded the corner. Rows and rows of doors all with lock lights lit met his eye. It seemed like an hour, though it was really only a few seconds before he caught sight of an unlocked one opposite an emergency exit. Deciding that he would rather not set off a building-wide alarm, he zipped in the door, locked it, and leaned against it panting.

"Hello, I don't remember anyone but Perceptor and the janitors to be here so late."

The voice was so unexpected that Darkstar started violently and snapped his head around. There stood a large, white bot with a stack of datapads in his arms.

"Uh…I'm a janitor…." Faltered the Hunter, doubting the other guy would buy it.

He didn't.

"Nice try, but I know a Hunter when I see one."

Darkstar bit his lip and said nothing. This dude was sure to yell out to the Law Enforcers that he knew right where their Hunter was hiding. The white guy, however, seemed to be unfazed by having a Hunter burst randomly into his library and he continued about his business tranquilly.

Presently, Darkstar ventured, "Are you going to tell them I'm here?"

"Why should I do that? I don't know anything about the situation beyond that you've just locked yourself in the library."

"…So…"

"Yes? Don't be shy."

"Are you or are you not going to let me out of here?"

"How am I supposed to stop you? As I recall, Hunters are generally considered to be among the best fighters ever on Cybertron. I'm just a collage kid."

"…"

"Stop staring at me, would you? You're acting like I'm some kind of alien."

"I—oh. Sorry. So…I'm guessing Perceptor is a scientist?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"I—uh—I think I dropped in on him by accident…his door was open."

"If you've hurt him—"

"No, no. He never even knew I was there. Say, if only the janitors and Perceptor are here this late, where does that leave you?"

"I'm on—er—punishment."

Darkstar smirked slightly, "You don't strike me as the kind of guy who would stir up trouble."

"Yeah, well, I don't. I'm the only flier here, though, so I get singled out a lot—ish. What about you? You strike me as the more mischievous sort."

"The Law Enforcers take anything—even a stray look—as an excuse to execute a Hunter. I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and just unlucky."

"Mmh." Skyfire set some more datapads down.

"Do you suppose the Law Enforcers are gone?" asked Darkstar after a moment.

"I dunno. Want me to look?"

"You'd…"

"Chill out. Be back in a sec."

The white bot left the room and returned in a few seconds.

"They're searching all the rooms systematically. They're going to be here in a couple of minutes. You'd better get out before they catch you."

"What? Are you actually—don't you know that you could be arrested for—what is it? Aiding and abetting a criminal? Are you out of your mind?"

"No, I think you're out of yours. Why do you automatically question my motives?"

"Hmm…Maybe because people don't help Hunters without either expecting to be well-paid or double-crossing them."

"Oh. Well, trust me or not, I can get you out of here. You can stay at my place until this cools off a bit."

"Liar."

The white bot's eyes flashed.

"_Don't_ call me a liar!"

Darkstar, regretting his hasty speech, quickly said, "I didn't mean—Look, I'm going to…uh…."

He suddenly dashed out the door and made for the exit on the other side of the hall.

"There he is!" one of the Law Enforcers cried and in less time than it takes to write it, the entire force dashed up and opened fire on the Hunter.

Darkstar fairly dove through the door and transformed, making to fly off into the night, but Prowl took one last shot and a tiny dart lodged itself in the Hunter's wing.

"Radio base that we've lost him. Again." Said Prowl, brushing past the other officers with a glare.

Three blocks away, Darkstar transformed and fairly collapsed on a rooftop. Reaching around, he plucked the little shaft from his wing and looked at it blearily. It was smaller than the tip of his finger, but on the end was a capsule. Peering closer, he made out that it was empty.

_Poison_ was the last thing he thought before collapsing.

* * *

Note: Enter: Skyfire. Exit: Darkstar? I feel bad for Prowl and Streetwise; this just isn't their hunt.

Oh, and I probably should've mentioned this, but this's set before the G1 cartoon, mostly. I have some elements of other continuities in here, too, and a heck of a lot of stuff I just made up. Of course.

So, any thoughts on who the writer and intended recipient of that note Skyfire found were? They're not both guys (or girls).


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When Darkstar awoke, he saw-nothing. At first he was a good bit frightened, for he had never been fond of the idea of being blind. Then, slowly, it dawned on him that his optics were shuttered, so he groggily unshuttered them and a sunlit room sprang into existence.

"Huh…Nacelle?" he said, trying to gather his widely dispersed wits.

"Guess again, dude. And don't push your systems; you were out for a while so it'll naturally take a while to reboot."

Darkstar tried to sit up, but someone pushed him back down. The Hunter looked blearily at the speaker and saw it was a white mech. But something about him was familiar…. Then it all came back with a rush. The Law Enforcers, the fight, the Academy, Nacelle.

"You again," was all Darkstar said.

"You should be grateful. I saved your hide from being caught where you had so cleverly decided to faint: right on top of the police station. It's pure chance that they didn't find you up there or you'd be waking up in a nice, comfy cell—if at all."

"What are you doing this for? You're putting yourself right smack in the middle of an issue that's none of your business. If you're found out, the Law Enforcers'll be after you for helping a Hunter!"

"Well, I'm making it my business. Don't quote the risks to me."

"But—"

"Shut up and drink this."

The white bot held an energon cube. Though it looked delicious and Darkstar hadn't had any energon for a few days, he turned to face the back of the battered couch he lay on.

"Come on, drink it already."

Darkstar said to the back of the couch, "The minute I can walk, I'm leaving here and you're forgetting that I exist, let alone that you met and talked to me."

"Oh for cryin' out loud! Just take the cube and be happy."

Darkstar turned his nose up and made no reply.

"Fine. Be a snot. See if I care. Look, it's right here when you want it. I have to get to class now, so be good and don't get into trouble."

The moment white bot left, Darkstar slurped the energon down and nestled back in the cushions. His gaze flitted about the room and he noted that, though clean and well-kept, there were no new things.

Facing into the room from the doorway, the entire left wall was lined with shelves, which in turn were lined with datapads. There was a small break in the shelves for a doorway, which Darkstar guessed was the washroom. The back wall sported a window that let the sunlight through unhindered. Underneath, there stood a little table with a potted plant on it. The right wall was mostly bare but for a picture and another doorway that looked like it led to the white bot's bedroom. Past that, there was nothing else in the room save for the couch and two end-tables, one on either side of it. Darkstar sat up with some difficulty.

"What the heck was _in_ that dart?" he muttered, rubbing his wing. It looked like he wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. "Great. Now I have to put up with that weirdo for another couple of days while that stupid whatever-it-was works its way out of my systems."

Slowly, he got up and took a few steps towards the bookshelf. He stumbled and clutched the back of the couch as he waited for his head to clear. Presently, he took a few more steps and skimmed the titles of the datapads.

'The Science of Science,' 'The Life of a Cell,' 'Chemistry in Action,' 'The Life, Work, and Writings of Technologer,' (he was a famous Cybertronian scientist) 'Doing Science and Still Alive,' to name a few of the books.

"Great," said Darkstar to himself, "I'm stuck with a geek." He paused and then ruefully admitted, "But that geek _did_ save my life. I suppose I owe him."

He glanced quickly at the rest of the titles, hoping for the friendly face of an adventure novel—heck, anything but nonfiction drags, but they all seemed to pertain to science in one way or another.

"Doesn't this guy have a life?" marveled our perplexed Hunter. The bot seemed like not only a total geek, but the owner of a very one-track mind.

His next stop, of course, was the washroom where he avoided the mirror after the first glance. His shiny black paint was all chipped and the silver trim mostly gone, leaving bare metal to show through. Not only that, but there was a large puncture in his wing, he still had a plenty of partially-healed wounds from the fight with the punks and the many injuries he'd acquired in the two-odd weeks since then. At least the dude had cleaned most of the grime off him, though he'd done nothing about the unsightly scratch in the paint on his cheek. Oh, well, he thought, the damage was mostly cosmetic at this point and there was little use in getting upset over a few scratches.

By the time he finally emerged, the sun was setting and a warm glow filled the room. The white bot wasn't home yet, so Darkstar snatched a random datapad off the shelf and sat down. To his surprise, it turned out to be a novel, albeit science fiction.

"Well, at least there's a shred of hope for the dude," said Darkstar as he began reading.

Hours later, the sound of footsteps could be heard outside and someone started unlocking the door. Hurriedly, Darkstar snapped the lights off and darted for the shadows in the corner behind the bookshelf.

The white bot entered and turned the lights back on.

"You can come out now." He said and Darkstar stepped out.

"How did you know I was here?" he demanded.

"Well, for one thing, you aren't really in much condition to travel, and for another, you left the datapad on the couch."

Darkstar laughed. "I should know not to do that by now. Nacelle drilled me on not leaving any evidence for I don't know how long."

"Well, I don't know who Nacelle is, or was, but why don't we get better acquainted? I'm Skyfire."

"Darkstar. Nacelle was my master—or my step-father, if you prefer."

"How come he's not getting you out of this mess?"

"Uh—" Darkstar bit his lip and looked away. "He was offlined."

"Oh…."

There were a few minutes of awkward silence before Darkstar said, "I gather you're studying to be a scientist?"

"Yeah," Skyfire nodded enthusiastically, "Not to brag or anything, but Perceptor says he thinks I've really got the knack, and when _he_ says something like that—"

"It carries weight, right?"

"Yeah. What do you want to do?"

"I really don't know. It's not like there are any jobs for a Hunter anywhere but in the mines or—if you're lucky—making basic plating for factories and stuff. I always wanted to get into the government and change things, make them better."

"But they say it's the golden age! What's there to make better?"

"Everything! It's only golden for some bots; for the rest, it's living pit. Nacelle said to never believe everything you hear, and he wasn't wrong. How is it good when the government wants to extinctafy Hunters and become the dictators of the world?!"

"Ok, not to burst your bubble or anything, but 'extinctafy' isn't a word."

"Whatever. My point is that something's gotta give before too long. I think there's a revolution brewing."

"Well, I certainly don't want to be caught in the middle of one. What did Nacelle teach you?"

"A bit of everything, but mostly it was fighting. He really pushed book-learning, too. He always said we were lucky because we had a pretty good-sized place and didn't have to work the mines. It was like a mini castle with all the rooms and garden and stuff."

"I guess you can't go back, can you? The Law Enforcers'll have the place under surveillance."

"Of course they will, but as soon as I can get them off my case, I'm gonna go back and check the place over. I'm sure Nacelle had some credits stashed away somewhere and maybe I can salvage some things and sell them."

"Where would you go after that? I mean, there aren't really any Hunter-friendly places around."

"Kaon. I can probably pick up a bit of a living there. And I might be able to get a ride off the planet."

"_Kaon?!_ Do you know anything about that place?! It's bad news, Darkstar. Why in the world would you even _consider _going there?"

"I don't really have any other options."

"But you do! You could stay here and enroll in the Academy."

"…Are you sure you're smart enough to be a scientist? In case you didn't notice, I'm kind of banned from doing that sort of stuff because _I'm a Hunter!__"_

"No, no, no. There's a guy a ways from here who—er—_modifies_ bots. He doesn't charge much, just a couple of credits and the scraps, and he doesn't care who's the customer."

"You're saying I should do _WHAT_?!"

"It's better than living in Kaon. Besides, you could have a normal life; you know, get a regular job and stuff."

"You don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

"I'm a Hunter; if I get this 'modification' you speak of and try to live a 'normal' life, it's like saying I don't care about what happens to the rest of the Hunters! I'm not turning my back on them. It's disloyal and downright treacherous."

Skyfire thought for a moment.

"I think you could help them better if you did get the modification, though." He said at length, "You see, you could potentially get that government job you wanted and then you could ease things up. Maybe even nip that revolution in the bud. I think you could do it."

Darkstar didn't answer and Skyfire pulled out his homework.

"You've got a few days before you can move, so give it some thought." He said as he flicked his datapad on.

An hour later, Skyfire set his datapads aside and said, "I'm going to bed. Night."

Darkstar said, "Yeah, me too. Say, Skyfire, thanks. You know, for takin' me in."

"Don't mention it."

**~~The Next Morning~~**

*Knock, knock, knock*

Darkstar rolled over and moaned, "Not time yet, Nacelle. Five more minutes…."

*Knock, knock, knock* a bit louder this time.

The Hunter sat up and rubbed his eyes. Taking a little peep through the peep hole in the door, he almost yelled with surprise as he saw three Law Enforcers outside.

"Skyfire!" Darkstar exclaimed, ignoring all rules of etiquette as he entered his host's bedroom and shook said host awake.

"What is it…?" Skyfire slapped tiredly at Darkstar and missed.

"The Law Enforcers are at the door!"

"What?" This got Skyfire's attention and he jumped up.

"Law Enforcers. If they find out I'm here—"

"I get it, I get it." Skyfire got to his feet.

"Aren't you wishing you'd stayed out of this now? They're going to take both of us in and then where'll your career in science be?"

"Shut up! For cryin' out loud, Darkstar, can't you ever just can it and be happy? I'm not going to let us get captured if I can help it. You'd better go and hide somewhere."

The Hunter disappeared and Skyfire answered the door.

"What?" he said.

"We're Law Enforcement. There's a fugitive Hunter around here wanted for murder and we have reason to believe he may be hiding here."

"So? You're not coming in."

"Yes, we are." The officer flashed a search warrant and brushed Skyfire aside.

Skyfire crossed his arms and watched them poke and prod about the small place. His entire future as well as Darkstar's now depended on how well the Hunter had paid attention to his teacher. It seemed like forever before the pair returned—the third had stayed outside—and they said, "All clear. It is your duty, as a citizen of Iacon to notify us if you see the Hunter. Just a reminder, but the penalty for aiding one is termination."

The Law Enforcers left and Skyfire breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Darkstar?" he said, wondering where the Hunter had managed to hide himself.

There was no answer, so Skyfire tried again.

"Darkstar?"

"Over here." Came the Hunter's voice, faintly.

"Over where? I don't see you."

"That's the point, but could you help me out? It wasn't awfully hard to get up here, but it's heck to get back down when I can't move."

"You still didn't tell me where you—oh my." Skyfire stopped dead as he saw where Darkstar had hidden. The small ventilation shaft near the ceiling had been dismissed by the Law Enforcers as far too little for anyone to get into, but here was Darkstar's black and silver foot waving about in the opening.

"How in the world did you get in _there_?" Skyfire marveled, helping Darkstar out.

"It wasn't easy, but with a little—hey, could you reach in there and get my wings? It just took some managing."

"You took your _wings_ off?! How can you even _do_ that?" Skyfire stared at the pair of wings he just fished out of the shaft.

"Easy, all Hunters' wings are removable. Helps when we get into tight spots where they won't fit. Could you help me? I can't reach. Too stiff."

Gingerly, Skyfire aided him and soon, there stood the Hunter, only slightly more scratched up than he used to be.

"Oh, I was thinkin' about that upgrade, and yes."

"Great! As soon as you're healed, I'll take you there."

"One problem, though—I don't have any credits. So I'll go back to my old place and pick some up first, then come back."

"Don't do that! I have more than enough. Ish."

"Well, we'll figure it out later. How about breakfast?"

"Sounds good to me."

As they got out the energon, the topic of conversation shifted to lighter subjects, but unseen by anyone was the strange purple figure that watched them with a not-so-nice smile behind his faceplate. Things were working out just as he had planned. All he needed was some patience and a little nudge here and there.

* * *

Notes: So, I'm not sure if anyone's reading this...A simple comment like 'hi' would be nice, just so I know _somebody's_ out there. And there's the ever popular asdfghjkl. :) Of course, I'd really _love_ it if people critiqued the story. I can take it; it's really hard to hurt my feelings.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"You sure this guy's good? I don't want to wake up as a shuttle or something—no offense." Darkstar hesitated as he and Skyfire rounded the corner on their way to the 'modifier.'

Skyfire laughed and said, "Chill out. It's fine; he's good."

They stopped before a less than inviting building. Most of the paint was gone, and the large window was cracked with a hole in the corner. Piles of scrap metal and junk filled the place and it all had an air of neglect about it. A red neon sign lit in the window proclaimed the place to be 'Combustor's Upgrades.'

"Combustor? I don't want a guy called Combustor fiddling around with my insides! You know what? I think I can make it just as I am—no change necessary."

"You agreed, besides, it's too late now to back down. Come on." Skyfire fairly pulled the Hunter inside where they saw a larger green bot tinkering with some scraps.

Skyfire cleared his throat and said, "Sir?"

The bot looked up and said, "You don't look like you need anything fixed up, young bot. If this is some kind of prank—"

"It's not for me," Skyfire quickly corrected, "It's my friend." He shoved Darkstar forward.

"Yep, he could use one. Hunter, huh? Haven't had any of those around in a while. What did you have in mind? Shuttles are rather popular." Combustor rose and came over.

"Uh, no thanks. Something more like a Hunter frame."

"Hmm…"

Skyfire said, "I have to go; be good, Darkstar."

"Shut it." The Hunter said. Combustor took no notice and looked Darkstar over critically.

Skyfire left and went straight to the store.

When he finally emerged, it was so dark that he could hardly see the curb. A sight movement to his right caught his eye, but when he looked there was nothing to be seen. Suddenly, an enormous mech yanked him into an alley and threw him against the wall.

"Ow! Get off!" Skyfire grunted, shiving at him. The thug withdrew a knife and jabbed it at Skyfire, who barely managed to twist out of the way. Skyfire grabbed his wrist and kicked his leg and they both went down in a mad struggle in which Skyfire appeared to be losing to the punk's superior size and strength. After a particularly sharp blow to the head, Skyfire's world started spinning and he only just glimpsed a glint of white descend on the guy before he lost consciousness.

Darkstar heard Skyfire's voice and the scuffle as he strolled around in search of Skyfire. Activating his brand-new jets, he flew up to have a look and sure enough, there was his friend getting his aft handed to him by an gianormous street punk. He flew over, glad for the opportunity to break his new body in, and withdrew his wing-sword. A couple of quick, neatly-placed cuts later, the thug lay on the ground out cold. Darkstar knelt beside Skyfire. He wasn't hurt too badly and was just coming to.

"Dude, you up?" he asked, poking the other. Skyfire groaned and swatted the finger away.

"Who're you?" he said groggily, looking up at the unfamiliar face.

Darkstar smirked in the dark and said in as demonic a voice as he could get, "One who needs a more suitable host body…."

"…"

"Just kidding. Seriously, though? Take a good guess."

"A vengeful ghost here to punish me for all the cookies I snitched when I was a kid? I don't know."

"You pilfered the cookie jar, too? I didn't think you had it in you. I'm Darkstar, dimwit. You sure you have the smarts to be a scientist?"

"You—you're a Seeker-!"

"Brilliant, but are we just gonna sit here all night and reminisce on all the cookies we stole or are we going to get back?" Darkstar pulled Skyfire to his feet and started gathering the scattered groceries.

At Skyfire's flat, said Transformer admired [critisized] Darkstar's new looks.

"A Seeker isn't too different from a Hunter, but what's with the weird color scheme? What was wrong with your old one? You look like Starscream from 'The Defenders'" ['The Defenders' was a popular digital comic series and Starscream was one of the main characters.]

"Pfft! Everyone can do with a change now and then. Even you; you could add a splash of—I don't know—green and pink to your boring _white_. Rainbow neon tie-dye! That would suit you."

"I don't think so. But from what I've seen, most Seekers have white chests, lighter faces, and some variant of blue on their limbs."

"_I _am _not_ 'most Seekers'. I'm still quite thoroughly a Hunter."

"I'm just not sure about red, white, and blue. Don't you want to blend?"

"Nope. I like the colors."

"You could have at least swapped the red and white."

"Pfft. I like the combo. "

"And was that a wing-sword you pulled out in the alley? Seekers don't have wing-swords—as far as I know, they don't use any kind of sword. That and the colors—"

"I couldn't give it up. It's just natural to have a sword in my wing."

"Yeah, I think you could use a little help in the blending department."

"Whatever. Say, how about the alt mode? Sure isn't built for stealth and speed."

"I don't think whoever designed the Seeker model was concerned about making you happy."

"They should have been. Hey, thanks for everything, but I'd better be going. I think I've bothered you long enough."

"What?!"

"I'll repay you someday—when I get my stuff out of the government's grubby mitts—and good luck on your geek stuff."

Darkstar started towards the door and Skyfire said, "Wait!"

The Hunter half turned and waited for him to continue.

"Why don't you stay here and enroll in the Academy? You've done your homework; I think you could pass."

"In the Academy? You're joking."

"No, I'm not. Isn't there something you want to do beyond complain about the government, laws, city-states, people, weather, etc.?"

"…But I _like_ complaining…."

"You could study to be—I don't know—a scientist. Or something."

Darkstar stared for a moment before bursting into long peals of laughter.

"Me?! A geeky _scientist_?! You're pulling my leg!"

"It was just a suggestion."

Darkstar sobered up and thought for a second.

"See you tomorrow or not at all." Was all he said before disappearing out the door.

Skyfire frowned after him. What had he gotten himself into with helping this Hunter?

The next morning as Skyfire sipped his morning energon, Darkstar tapped at the window.

"Open up in there," Skyfire heard him say through the glass.

He opened the window and the Hunter clambered in.

"Why didn't you use the door?" asked Skyfire, annoyed at the unusual entrance.

"The window's more fun."

Helping himself to some energon, Darkstar plopped down on the couch besode Skyfire and grinned.

"You look like the mecha-cat who ate the canaryoid. What's up?" asked Skyfire.

"I've just been accepted into the Academy, gotten a job, and busted a gang all in one night." He said, "All I'm missing is a place to stay…."

"If you're thinking of—"

"Thanks, that's very generous of you to offer to share your flat. I'll chip in on the rent, of course, but you're doing the shopping. And as for bed-space—"

"Look, when I told you you should get into the Academy, I figured you'd get your own place and do your own shopping."

"But doesn't it get lonely here? With nobody to insult you or wake you up at odd hours of the night with snoring and random complaints? Besides, you'd get the rent rate reduced by half!"

"You're not a very good salesbot, you know. I didn't rescue you so that you could be annoying and want to share my flat."

"But you _did_ rescue me."

"And I think I'm starting to regret that. But half the rent…."

"And three shopping trips."

"Only three…."

"Four."

"I don't know…."

"I'll clean the washroom twice a lunar cycle."

"Well…."

"And feed your plant."

"Hmmm…."

"That's all I got! What more you want? I could pay a yearly tribute of credits, polish the frame of your certificate, clean your feet with my tongue! C'mon 'Fire."

"That's gross. Cleaning my feet with your tongue, I mean. The yearly tribute doesn't sound so bad. But considering that I'm such a nice person and all, and if you really _will_ clean the washroom—"

"Twice a lunar cycle—"

"—Twice a lunar cycle…. Deal. The cleaning supplies are under the sink."

"Wonderful! Thanks a million!"

A minute of silence ensued, then Skyfire said, "Don't you have to change your name? I mean, Darkstar's kind of well-known by now with Law Enforcers. What'd you put on your application?"

"I took your advice."

"What?"

"Starscream. From now on, I'm Darkstar no longer. Starscream is the name and science is the game."

"…That's really corny…"

* * *

Notes: Best line: "…But I _like_ complaining…"

2nd best line: "You—you're a Seeker-!"

And thanks for the reviews! I'm never opposed to more. :)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Later at the Academy, Darkstar—or Starscream as we must now call him—followed Skyfire into the same laboratory that he'd blundered into not all that long ago when he was being chased by the Law Enforcers.

"Uh, hey, Perceptor?" Skyfire said cautiously, hoping to not startle the scientist.

He jumped and turned around to face the pair of young students.

"Skyfire!" he said, smiling broadly, "How nice to see you. Who's your friend?"

"Starscream. He just transferred here and is studying to become a—scientist."

"I see. What area?"

"Uh…" Starscream racked his brain for an answer. He'd been completely unprepared for this question—especially after what Skyfire had said. He tried to remember what Skyfire was going for.

"E-extraterrestrial exploration." He got out after an awkward pause.

"Quite so. There should be quite a bit of work for you; not many fliers choose to be scientists. Have you any plans to be partners?"

"With him?" Starscream started to laugh but cut it short as Skyfire elbowed him sharply in the side.

"S-sure! Why not? Of course!" he said with a faltering smile.

"We'd better get to class," said Skyfire, pulling the smaller jet towards the door.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Starscream." The scientist said.

Once out in the hall, Skyfire fairly shoved Starscream across the hall into the washroom.

"What the heck was that?!" Skyfire fairly yelled.

"What was what? What're you talking about?"

"_That_! With Perceptor! You almost botched the whole thing! The only thing that saved you was that a) he's absent-minded, b) he's mellow, and c) he likes me!"

"I was kind of caught off-guard when my life started getting planned out for me by a series of stupid panicked blunders! I had brain-freeze!"

"That seems to be a permanent state of mind with you! If that had been _anyone_ else, we'd be _so_ in the Rust Spot right now! From now on, I'm doing the talking and you say as little as possible. Got it?"

"Yep. You talk. Say, ain't it time for math?"

Skyfire glanced at the clock.

"Aw, heck."

They slid into their seats almost five minutes late and received strange looks from their classmates and a disdainful stare from the teacher.

Starscream rubbed his forehead and groaned as they walked home.

"How can you stand that? It's torture."

"The Academy? You get used to it. Anyhow, I thought Hunter training was more intense."

"That's different. That wreaks havoc on your body; this busts your brain."

"You seem to be pretty well educated for a guy who didn't take to 'book-learning.'"

"Nacelle made me. It's all his fault that I have all this stupid useless knowledge downloaded. But it's a custom; Hunters are all supposed to get at least the equivalent of a type five degree."

"Type five? That's pretty good. I guess that goes to show how much the average Cybertronian knows about Hunters; you're pretty much masters of all trades!"

"Not _that_ good, 'Fire. Just different."

They reached the flat and Skyfire found a letter in the door.

"It's from my parents," he said as they entered.

"Lucky."

"What do you mean?"

"That you have parents."

"What, did you spontaneously pop out of interstellar space and randomly drift to this planet? You must have had some at some point."

"Yeah, just guess what happened to my Hunter mother-creator."

"Government."

"Yep. Nacelle took me in after that. I never knew her."

"How come your father-creator didn't take you in?"

"I dunno. Nacelle never told me who he was. But one of these days I'm gonna find out."

"Oh, right." Skyfire started looking his letter over, "after you break into your own house, take over the government, graduate as a scientist, explore hundreds of planets, and get your homework done. I see right where you're fitting that in."

"Aw, whatever. What's going on with your parents?"

"The usual jazz. Nothing really interesting ever happens back home."

"Wow, do you really not know how good you have it? I mean, while I'm paranoid of running into the law, having to keep my fighting skills polished, and keep a secret identity; you've got a family, a clear name, and literally nothing to really worry about. Why couldn't we have been switched at birth?"

Skyfire set the letter on the end table, smiled and gave Starscream a good-natured slap on the back.

"'Cause that's not how it works." He said.

Later as they pondered some odd terminology in the science books, Starscream abruptly said, "This weekend."

"What? Huh? What's going on this weekend?" Skyfire looked up.

"I'm gonna go home and grab my credits. This weekend is as good a time as any."

"Hang on a moment. Your house as in the house that's being watched by the Law Enforcers?"

"Yep, I don't think I got another one."

"But that's stupid! I mean, you have a job here and everything! Why risk your life for a couple of credits?!"

"It's not just the credits. I want to see if there's anything that could lead to my father-creator, perhaps grab a few other things, and generally rub it in the government's face that they suck."

"This doesn't seem like a good idea at all. Why don't you just try being content with what's here?"

"Because I'm not that kind of guy."

The week fairly flew by for Skyfire until one day, with a groan, he realized that the weekend was upon him.

"Guess what day it is!" Starscream grinned as he grabbed two energon cubes.

Skyfire snatched one and said, "You're not going."

"C'mon, 'Fire. I want my credits. How would you feel if you were in my armor?"

"Squished. Extremely constricted. Really short. Mighty miniscule."

"No, no. Say your plant was confiscated and the only way you could get her back was by braving the dangers of the Law. You'd do it, wouldn't you? Of course you would."

"For a plant? I don't think so."

"But she's not just any plant, 'Fire."

"—She?"

"Yes, I named her."

"Oh, for cryin' out loud! You named my _plant_?!"

"Gertrude. Call her Gertrude. She gets offended easily."

Skyfire buried his face in his hands.

"Why?" he said, "Why did I have to be stuck with this idiot?!"

"It was your _destiny_, 'Fire! Just like mine is to go home."

"Blast destiny! You're not gonna go back there."

"I'll leave in about ten minutes, I think."

"This is practically suicide, Starscream. You'll never make it."

Skyfire did his best to convince Starscream that it was a fool's errand, but the Hunter-turned-Seeker was not to be deterred.

Finally, as Starscream walked out the door, Skyfire called after him, "If you're not back by tonight, I'm coming after you!"

Starscream turned. "That won't be necessary." He said, walking on.

Again, the purple stranger smiled behind his silver mask. Things were coming together quite well; he would just have to be patient.

* * *

Notes: So, 6th chapter. Keep the reviews coming, please! And don't be afraid to ask questions; I do my best to explain everything in the story, but I'm not perfect, and I don't bite (too hard). :)


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Starscream flew to within a mile of his old home before he landed behind the rubble of an old building. There would be plenty of cover for him until he reached the house, but then there were about thirty yards of open land where even a Hunter would have a hard time sneaking.

Silently, he slipped like a shadow from broken-down building to broken-down building until he reached the open stretch. There, he saw a sole Law Enforcer drone standing guard.

_This'll be easier than I thought,_ thought Starscream as he withdrew a throwing knife from his wrist compartment. A second later, the drone was down and Starscream retrieved his knife before he entered the house.

He paused, the unwelcome memories of better times flooding his mind, in the middle of the living room. It had been nearly a lunar cycle since he'd last seen the place, and before that, he couldn't remember a single night-or day-he'd been away. He knew the place like the back of his hand—that is, the back of his _old_ hand—and could find anything in it blindfolded and hopping on one leg. That is, he knew all of it that Nacelle let him see. The older Hunter's study had been off-limits and the orders so strict that even the adventurous Darkstar had seldom thought of disobeying. But with Nacelle gone, Starscream figured he could check the place out. After, of course, he looted the rest of the place.

His first stop was his old room. He sorted through his datapads and found his collection of digital comics. Glancing over one, he found a picture of Starscream, the second-in-command of the heroic Defenders. Skyfire had been right; he did look a good bit like the comic character now. Defender Starscream had the same red stripes on his wings and blue arms. But he couldn't stand there all day reading a comic. Tucking the datapad back on the shelf, he retrieved his few credits and found under his berth the stash of partially-empty energon cubes. He always kept some there in case of siege from Nacelle whenever the latter discovered a prank. That brought back more unwelcome memories, so he hastily made his way down to the basement.

After checking the rest of the house over, he found himself at the door of Nacelle's study. He hesitated a moment before opening the door. He'd glimpsed the place once before, a long time ago.

* * *

The little Hunter sparkling cautiously checked over his shoulder and down the hallway. It wouldn't do for Nacelle to find him. Last he'd seen, the older Hunter had been napping on the couch, so he figured now was a perfect time to do a little "exploring."

Carefully, he stood on tiptoe to reach the button and just barely touched it. With a soft whoosh, the door slid open and Darkstar was distinctly disappointed at what he saw.

There was an armchair, a couple of stands, a desk, and a shelf filled with datapads. There were no mounted heads of government people, no military awards for saving the world, no weapons on the walls, no Senators in cages waiting to be interrogated, no plans for weapons of mass destruction anywhere. It was frustratingly _normal_. Nonetheless, the little Hunter picked his way inside and went to great trouble to scale the stool before the desk. He opened the drawer and pulled out a few letters addressed to someone named 'O' who lived at the loading docks in Iacon. Selecting one, he settled down to decipher it; he was just learning to read and was pretty confident on being able to figure this scribbling out.

"'Dear O,'" he read aloud, "'the little one is com—ing along ex—exquis—et—lee. I have gr—great hopes for his futu—re and will begin tr—trai—training soon. As for your pr-ob-lem, I b-b—whatever that you would do well to listen to your do-kter fr-iend and try not to wo-rry too ex-excess—excessively about it. Sin—'man, this guy sure uses a heck of a lot of big words. Let's see. 'S-i-n-c-e-r-e-l-y, Na-celle.' I wonder who 'O' is. And what 'ps' means. And what the letter's about—"

"And I wonder what a particular sparkling is doing where he was told not to go. You need to practice your reading-on something other than my personal letters."

Darkstar jumped at the sound of Nacelle's voice and guiltily turned to face him.

"Hi…?" he said trying to grin.

* * *

Starscream smirked slightly as he opened the door. Essentially, the place hadn't changed at all from what he remembered. The first thing he did was search the place for credits and he was pleased to find a pretty good supply. Then he approached the desk and opened the drawer. The stack of letters was far bigger than he remembered it to be. Sifting through them, he found many were from the government, some were from other Hunters, a couple from Moonbeam, and many from 'O.'

"Who was this 'O'? Wondered the Seeker aloud, looking at a letter.

"'Dear O,'" he read, "'Darkstar is growing up to be a fine young mech. I wish you could be here to see him! Only this morning he completed the obstacle course in record time—almost even beat me, and he's hardly more than a little sparkling. He's going to be one of the fastest bots of our time, I'll bet, and he's got the potential to be a great leader; I shouldn't be surprised to see him lead the revolution. He just needs to learn more patience. His studies are coming along well, too. The mathematics and sciences are a breeze for him—though he occasionally makes mistakes in simple addition or subtraction due to not being thorough enough—but he can't stand history and his grammar is sorely lacking—though I guess that's probably partly my fault for not providing a grammatically correct role model. Still, over all, I think he'll not only turn out to be a brilliant bot in his own right, but he'll be a powerful one. I just hope he doesn't let his resentment towards the Senate and government rule his actions; if that should happen, or someone provoke it—well, I hope and pray it never happens. Sincerely, Nacelle.'"

Starscream looked at the letter for a while, trying to absorb all he'd just read. Apparently this 'O' had been some close friend of Nacelle's who'd had a deal of interest in how he was growing up. Perhaps 'O' would have information on his father-creator. He was left with no more time to think as he heard someone outside. Hastily, he gathered up all Nacelle's letters and bolted for the door.

"Not so fast, Seeker!"

A blue Hunter and a white one stood in the doorway with knives out, ready to fight. Starscream recognized them as Airstream and Cloudbank.

"What are you doing with those papers?" asked Cloudbank, scowling.

"What are you doing in the area?" said Airstream.

Starscream said nothing as he put the letters inside his cockpit and tried to get past the Hunters.

"Not so fast, Seeker." Airstream repeated, blocking the way and frowning. "This is a Hunter's house and even though they're not here, you're not getting away."

"What happened to them?" asked Starscream, curious about what had 'happened' to him.

"Dead. Not that it's any of your business, Seeker."

"Who were they? How did they meet their end? What are _you_ two doing here?"

"That's not your concern, Seeker. We're just protecting a friend's place."

"Who was your friend?"

"You sure ask a lot of questions. His name was Darkstar. He was a far more honorable guy than you; he didn't steal things from offlined people. Hand back those letters and get the heck outta here and we won't hurt you."

Briefly, Starscream considered letting them in on his secret, but he decided that the fewer people who knew about it, the better. Still, he was touched by their loyalty towards a guy that they'd only known a short time before his 'demise.' They would make wonderful friends, but he was doing his best to leave his old life behind now and he wouldn't involve them in his problems.

So he said, "Get out of _my_ way or else you'll be the ones hurt."

"Give those papers back and we'll let you go."

"Sorry, bub. Nothing doing."

"Then prepare to get your aft handed to you, Seeker."

"Well, you've been warned, guys. I don't want to do this, but you're asking for it."

Starscream took a step back, but Airstream suddenly brought out his wing-sword and jumped at Starscream. Faster than greased lightning, Starscream brought out his own wing-sword and caught the other's blow. Cloudbank stood to the side, watching the whole thing. Airstream looked as if he had it well in hand. Sort of.

Airstream's optics widened at finding a Seeker with a wing-sword, but he didn't falter. Quickly, he feinted and tried to catch Starscream in the side, hoping to make the Seeker back down, but Starscream fell for none of it and blocked the stroke neatly. Airstream furrowed his brow and tried another approach, aiming for the Seeker's intake. He struck with his left hand at Starscream's sword-arm and made his blow, but the Seeker ducked and drove a fist into Airstream's gut. The Hunter was caught completely off-guard and hesitated for a moment before jumping back just in time to avoid another blow. Returning his sword as the Seeker had done, Airstream blocked the next one and got in a hit to Starscream's jaw. That slowed the Seeker not one iota as he picked the Hunter up hove him out the door.

Airstream was up in a second and slammed Starscream into the wall. This slowed him down a bit, but Airstream took no chances and followed it up with some punches to his face. Starscream lay on the ground now and Airstream had his knee on his chest.

"Give up yet, Seeker?"

"Why? I'm just gettin' warmed up." The next second, the Seeker was gone and before Airstream had time to wonder how that had happened, he found himself face down on the ground as the Seeker sat on top of him.

"How'd you—never mind. Just prepare to get beaten, Seeker."

"Deja Vu. You said that before. I'm still waiting for the trump card."

"If that's what you want—that's what you'll get!" Airstream twisted around and kicked Starscream away. The Seeker back-flipped in midair and landed on his feet.

"That's it?" he said.

"Not by a long shot, Seeker. I don't know where you learned to fight like that, but you're not getting away."

He sprinted over and delivered a series of hard blows to Starscream. The latter coolly avoided the majority of them before Airstream found himself pinned to the ground with the Seeker holding his arms and kneeling atop him. Airstream struggled, but it was fruitless.

"Alright. You've won. I don't know how you did, but do whatever you're going to do quickly."

"Terminate you?" Starscream suddenly realized that, of course, that's what the Hunter would expect of him. "Sorry to have to disappoint, but I've got better things to do than offline a Hunter for trying to protect the home of a bot he barely knew. I'll just take these letters and be on my way."

Noting the Hunter's downcast face, he guessed the reason and said, "You're not letting him down by allowing me to leave with the letters. Trust me; he'd be quite happy with the way you've stood up for him."

"How would you know?"

"I—" Starscream paused for a moment, remembering that he didn't want to reveal who he was. He smirked. "Darkstar knows, and he thanks you. But I've got to get back before dark or else my room-mate'll get worried." Transforming, he shot off into the setting sun, leaving a confused pair of Hunters staring after him.

"You don't suppose—" began Cloudbank.

"Yes. It was." Said Airstream, picking himself up. "But he's gone now and I don't think he's coming back."

* * *

Notes: Coolest part: Screamer's backflip.

Funniest part: the 'dramatic' ending.

Most pitiful part: the lack of page-time Cloudbank gets.

Two good words to describe the chapter: Cybertronian Ninjas!

Strangest part: Why does Nacelle have letters he wrote to this 'O'? Shouldn't 'O' have them? Maybe Nacelle keeps copies of his own letters or doesn't send some of them, I don't know. Or else it wasn't finished? (Wow, I'm the author; I should know. Oh, well. I swear these robots have minds of their own at times. :P )

Also, As I was writing this, I didn't realize that I had the fly/drive/walk/ride into the setting sun cliché, but it's part of the plot...I guess. Until next time!


	8. Chapter 8

Fast as Starscream flew, the setting sun was faster and the first stars were just peeking out as he cruised high above Iacon. Suddenly, he felt a jar on his nosecone as a white thing simply appeared out of nowhere.

"Ow!" yelled Starscream, transforming. "Watch out, dude!"

"Starscream! I told you to be back before dark." Skyfire transformed as well and crossed his arms, looking none too happy at crashing into the Seeker up here.

"Are you really that bad of a flier, 'Fire, or are you just that clumsy?" asked Starscream.

"It was your fault; _you_ hit _me_."

"Well, let's not argue about that. I hope you have dinner ready."

"Dinner," said Skyfire as they transformed and started flying back to their flat, "is inside me and has been so for a while. In other words, the minute we get back, I'm going to recharge."

The next morning, Skyfire seemed to be in a better mood and he said, "How did the trip go?"

Starscream rubbed a sore spot on his armor.

"Fine. I got some credits and a bunch of Nacelle's letters, but past that, the only thing I would have gotten was my comic collection. That was too big so I' left it. I did pick up some potential information on my father-creator, though."

"Really? What?"

"A bunch of letters addressed to a guy called 'O.' Nacelle apparently knew him well and he seemed to have some interest in me. Maybe he knew."

"Hmm. Where does he live?"

"The loading docks in Iacon. I think they're on the other side of the city."

"You know, Perceptor has been talking of taking a trip next semester with a few of his students to attend some kind of convention or something. He'll almost definitely ask me to go along, and if you show interest in science—"

"In other words prove myself to be a geek."

"—he'll probably take you, too. It just happens to be five minutes away from the loading docks…."

"Perfect! I suppose we'll have to wait and see, but I think it'll be a perfect opportunity."

The next few months passed mainly occupied with homework, work, and the occasional beat-up-a-gang-of-thugs routine that Starscream seemingly couldn't avoid. All in all, things were normal and Starscream found himself liking it, though he always hankered to be exploring somewhere and doing something more exciting. One day, Perceptor approached Skyfire and Starscream with the proposition of going to the convention and they jumped at the opportunity like piranhas at a tasty hunk of meat, pleased that they had been singled out of the class as the two who would get the most out of such a trip. It was to be an overnighter that weekend.

The days then passed all too slowly for Starscream, but the 'big' day finally came and he was up with the sun. Unfortunately for Skyfire, the Seeker decided that the white mech couldn't be allowed to sleep while he was up, so after a series of pokes and prods and threats, Skyfire gave up the absurd idea of recharge.

Once at the convention, they saw everything there was to see, talked with—as Starscream put it (but not to their faces)—some of the biggest geeks on Cybertron, and presently decided to take a walk. They came to the 'Statue of Iacon' standing tall and proud in the circular Iacon Square and figured it would be a good place to have their lunch—but the ground was too low for them so they finally settled down with their cubes atop a roof looking down into the square.

Then came the beginning of disaster.

"What do you suppose would happen if we put energon under a powerful magnification lens? I've never tried that before." Said Skyfire. Starscream, curious about the potential results of such an experiment readily agreed and that left the sole problem of where to get a lens powerful enough.

That was soon solved when Skyfire unscrewed the lens of his small microscope. Starscream poured out a small bit of energon onto a scrap of metal and held it as Skyfire positioned the lens above it. Before long, Starscream let out a startled yelp and flung the 'experiment' away.

"What was that?" asked Skyfire, surprised.

"It was _hot!_ I'd say that focusing light like that over energon makes it really hot." He wrung his hand and blew on it, trying to cool it off.

"Oh, well. I guess it was a success of sorts."

Neither noticed where the 'experiment' had landed on the 'Statue of Iacon's' shoulder. For a moment, nothing happened, but then a small flicker started up and in a second, the statue burst out in flame.

Starscream and Skyfire jumped off the roof in amazement.

"You don't think—" started Skyfire, his gaze riveted on the burning statue.

"Well, potentially—" said Starscream staring at the flames.

"Great," moaned Skyfire, "We just practically blowtorched a national monument. We are _so_ in the Rust Spot."

"I swear I didn't do that on purpose."

"It was for science..."

By this time, the firefighters had arrived as well as cops and as the former did their best to contain the blaze, the latter started asking questions. A lot of fingers were pointed in the direction of the embarrassed students who could do nothing but watch the fire burn. If Transformers could blush, they would have been redder than lobsters as they slumped on the roof.

**-Later, at the police station—**

"You realize, of course, what you boys have just done," said the officer. "Defacing a national monument is a serious offense."

"We didn't mean to, officer." Said Skyfire.

The officer looked at Starscream.

The Seeker said, "Why would we want to set fire to an ugly st—er…"

"My thoughts precisely!" a voice from the doorway caught their attention and there stood a femme that the officer seemed to recognize.

"Let the boys go, Red, I'm sure it was all a mistake and they probably have things to do anyway."

"Good afternoon, Marline. Let me guess: you just happen to be free and have a 'block' ready, right?"

"Well, I _am_ a sculptor, Red. Besides, I always like to contribute to the beauty of Cybertron—Iacon in particular. I'll replace the statue-with a good discount-in a week. What do you say? In any case, I'll pay whatever these boys might owe for the accident."

"We couldn't let you—" began Skyfire, but the femme cut him off.

"Tut, tut," she said, "I'm sure you have plenty of bills and things to pay. I hate to see Cybertron's youth have to jump through hoops over a little mistake. Just run along and I'll take care of everything."

Starscream and Skyfire looked from her to each other and finally to the officer.

"You heard the lady. You're free." He said, picking up a datapad.

Outside, they strolled side by side on the street and Starscream said, "Well, that was a nice bit of dumb luck. I wonder why that lady was so nice to us."

"Didn't you hear what she said? She's a sculptor and a job like this, replacing one of the most famous statues on Cybertron, would be a big thing for her reputation."

"You got a point. Do we have to tell Perceptor?"

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him. I guess."

When they got to back to the hotel room, however, they found Perceptor there looking like he was going to catch fire just like a certain statue.

"What happened at the Statue of Iacon?" he asked, fixing them with a firm gaze.

"Uh, it was a just a little accident. All cleared up." Starscream said, wishing he could curl up under a rock and die.

"Nothing big," said Skyfire, wishing he could join Starscream under the rock.

"Do you call annihilating a national monument 'nothing big'?"

"We didn't mean to—" started Skyfire.

"It was a little experiment—" continued Starscream.

"We just wanted to see what would happen if we put energon under a lens—"

"But it got really hot so I accidentally threw it and it landed on the statue—"

"Nobody was hurt—"

"And everything's been taken care of—"

"So there's really nothing to be mad about—"

"Of course not!"

Perceptor looked from one to the other with a slight frown.

He said, "Why were you two experimenting anyway? You should do things such as that in a laboratory setting where the probabilities of injuring others is astronomically lower. It would behoove you both, in the future, to remember to avoid situations like this with simple precautions."

The pair nodded.

"Yes, sir," they said meekly.

"That's all. Now, what did you learn at the convention?"

* * *

Another chapter up. I'm going to try to update weekly every Saturday (or Sunday if I forget) from now on, so check this on the weekends. Next chapter: Starscream finds out about 'O'... 'Till next time... :)


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